Apparatus fob automatically extinguishing- pikes in oil tanks and otheb



May 22, 1923. 1,455,789

0. J. APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN OIL TANKS AND OTHER STRUCTURES Filed Jan. 7, 1918 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 22, 1923.

J. HOLMES APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN OIL TANKS AND OTHER STRUCTURES File d Jan. '7, 1918 2 Sheath-Shut 2 VENT R.

ATTORNEY Patented May 22, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR J. HOLMES, OF TULSA, OKLAHOMA.

APIAEATUS FUR AUTOIPEATISALLY EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN OIL TANKS AND OTHER STRUCTURES.

Application filed January 7, 1918. Serial No. 210,755.

To all 'w 7: 0m it may concern Be it known that 1, Oscar: J. Homnss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tulsa. in the county of Tulsa, State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Automatically Extinguishing Fires in Oil Tanks and Other Structures, of which the following is a specification containing full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to an improved apparatus for automatically extinguishing fires in oil-tanks and other structures, and consists in the novel disclosure hereinafter clearly described, and as particularly pointed out in the claims found at the end of this specification.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved process of and apparatus for extinguishing fires in oil-tanks and buildings of various kinds; whereby an alkaline foam-forming solution and an acid may be mixed in a pipe (or other chamber) located on the interior of the oil-tank or other structure, and forthwith be discharged as a fire-extinguishing foam while under pressure from a source located at a distance on the outside of the oil tank, directly upon the fire, at or near the base thereof.

A further object of the present invention is to combine in a single structure an auto matic foam fire-extinguishing apparatus arranged to extinguish fires in the lower levels (near the surface of the oil in the oil-tank, or near the floor of a building) in a manner similar to that shown and described in my above-mentioned prior application; and an automatic roof and ceiling sprinkling apparatus, arranged to spray the underside of the roof or ceiling with a fire-extinguishing liquid simultaneously with the discharge of the fire-extinguishing foam on the lower levels; both of said apparatus being connected for simultaneous release and operation to protect each other as well as extinguish the fire upon the meltingof a fusible link by a fire in the protected structure, but each apparatus being preferably provided with means whereby either apparatus may be independently (or separately) shut oil from a supply of fire-extinguishing liquid supplied under pressure from a distant source located upon the exterior of the oil-tank or other structure which is being protected from fire.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly in section, of a portion of the side wall of an oiltank or other structure, showing the relative preferred positions of the inmortantelements of both the roof supply pipe and the foam and acid supply pipes of the fire-apparatus for the lower levels.

Fig. 2 is a detail vertical section of the acid container.

Fig. 3 is a plan-view of the maj or portion. of an oil-tank or similar structure, with its roof removed, and having my automatic roof-spraying apparatus applied thereto.

Fig. lis an elevation of a portion of an oil-tank or other structure, with my sprinkling-heads arranged to throw a spray of fire-extinguishing liquid upon the underside of the roof or ceiling.

Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of one of the preferred forms of the sprinkling-heads, and

Fig. 6 is a plan View of the latter, showing the preferred relative locations of the per forations in said head, whereby the spray will be more evenly distributed upon the underside of the roof.

Referring by numerals to the drawings, 1 designates (in the present illustration of my invention) an oil-tank commonly used for the storage of crude oil and similar inflammable liquids, and 2 indicates the roof of said tank specifically.

A suitable float 3 is arranged to float upon the surface of the oil in the tank 1, and support the free innerend of a swinging pipe 4, which has a bafile 5 opposite the said free end of said pipe, which is open; said baffle being arranged to receive the impact of the foam and spread it upon the surface of the burning oil in the tank, in three distinct directions, to-wit: on two sides of said pipe and upwardly or outwardly.

Said swinging pipe 4- may be of any cou struction which will permit said float 3 to rise and fall. with the oil, and in the present case the outer end of said pipe is in the form of a fixed horizontal section 6 which passes through an aperture in the side wall of the tank 1, and is connected to a riser or vertical pipe 7 by means of an elbow 8, which is located on the exterior of said oil-tank and connected to a source of an alkaline foamforming solution under pressure and located at a distance, as described in my prior pat- (ill ent, granted on March 28, 1916, No. 1,177 ,331, or in any other desired manner.

A common three-way valve 9 is applied to the said vertical pipe 7 at a point below the said elbow 8, and operated automatically in the manner presently described, for controlling the passage of foam-forrning solution to the said swinging pipe 4.

The numeral 10 designates an acid-container, which (in the present illustration) is a stone jar set upright upon crossed supporting-bars 11 within a compression-chamber 12 supported by a vertical standard or foot 14:, which rests upon the surface of the ground at the side of the tank 1. Said standard 1a is, in the present instance, made of common hollow pipe, but it need not be hollow, and can be made of any suitable material either hollow or solid.

The lower end of said standard is, of course, closed by the foot-piece 15 into which the lower end of the standard is threaded.

Pressure is supplied to the said compression-chamber by a small branch pipe 16 which is connected to the said vertical supply-pipe 7 by means of a Y 17 on said pipe 7, and another Y 18 near the upper end. of said standard 14:, the upper end of the latter opening into the lower end of said compression-chamber, to compress the air therein whenever the said three-way valve 9 opens.

The said coinpression-chamber i2 is made in two sections which have horizontal perforated flanges for the reception of common bolts or screws 19, to detachably hold said sections together, and permit the said jar 10 to be placed in and removed from said chamber, as required in filling the jar with acid of any suitable kind.

Upon the exertion of a suitable pressure within said compression-chamber, the air upon the surface of the acid in said jar 10 will be correspondingly compressed, and a suitable quantity of the acid will be ejected through a small flexible lead pipe 20, which enters the upper end of said compressionchamber through a common stufIing-box 21 and extends downwardly to a point near the bottom of the jar.

From said jar 10 the acid is conveyed to the interior of said swinging pipe 4, by the flexible lead pipe 20 entering the elbow 8 at a point outside of the said oil-tank, passing through said elbow, into nd through said stationary horizontal section 6, and into the swinging section of said pipe 4 some distance to a mixing-point, where the smaller flexible lead pipe ends, and where the foam is developed by the mixture of the acid with said foam-forming alkaline solution carried by said swinging pipe, within ,the oil-tank at a point near the surface of the oil therein, whether it be at a high or a low level; and the "foam thus formed is forced into and through the enlarged outlet 13, in which it expands, and is thence forced into contact with the battle 5, and distributed at the base of the fire.

To permit the swinging pipe at to move freely up and down with the float 3, I pro vide the inner end of the swinging-section of said pipe with a common swing joint 22 at the point of juncture with the said fixed section 6.

T716 roof-sprinkling app (Wat as.

A plurality of sprinkler-heads 23 are arranged beneath the roof 2, to discharge simultaneously with the discharge of foam from the said swinging pipe 4;, a fire-extinguishing liquid in sufiicient quantities to prevent ignition, and to protect the said swinging pipe.

A vertical supply-pipe 24 has its lower end connected to a source of alkaline fireextinguishing liquid under pressure, located at a point (not shown) on the exterior of the oil-tank or other structure, and the upper end of said pipe is provided with an elbow 25 to which is connected a stationary horizontal section 26, which extends within said tank and connects with a triangiilarsection 27 located centrally of the tank a short distance below the roof 2.

A plurality of radial branches 29 are connected to said triangular-section27, and the sprinkler-heads23 are connected to said radial branches at numerous points in the length of said branches, as well as at points near the vertical wall of the tank, by means of lateral. branches 28 which are connected to said radial branches, so that the entire surface of the roof within the tank will be sprayed during a fire.

A common two-way valve 30 is applied to the vertical supply-pipe 24 at a point close to the said three-way valve 9 of the said vertical pipe 7 which supplies the said swinging-pipe with foamaforming solution, and said three-way valves are provided with levers 31 and 32 carrying adjustable weights 33.

For automatically opening the two valves 9 and 30, when a fire occurs 1n the oil-tank I connect the lower ends of branch chains or cables 34 to both of the said levers 31 and 32, and run a chain or cable 35 from said branch chains upwardly to a point near the roof of the tank, where it is passed over a common pulley 36, and thence inwardly 'to the interior of the tank, where it is connected to a horizontal chain 37 having a number of common fusible links 38, and extended across the top of said tank a considerable distance and has its inner end connected to some fixed support, such as the adjacent horizontal section 26 .of saidsupply-pipe 24. The numeral 89 designatesa drain-pipe vfor and waste fluid, connected to one side o fcsaid three 'way valve 9, for-"an obvio'iis purpose, and which may lead to any desired point.

1 he operation.

When a fire occurs in the oil-tank, one or more of said fusible links 38 will immediately be melted by the heat, and permit both of the weights 33 to drop, carrying the valve-levers 31 and 32 with them, and turning the valve-stems and plugs of the said valves 9 and 30 simultaneously to an open position, and permitting simultaneously the lire-extinguishing solution to pass into the said vertical supply-pipes 7 and The solution, after passing through said valve 9 enters the bottom of the compressionchamber 12, and compresses the air therein, and forces out of the acid jar 10 a small stream of acid, which passes into the foamforming solution within said swinging-pipe 4:, and there meets the main stream of solution, and a foam is formed and ejected, on the fire, within the tank, in the manner previously described; and such action will continue as long as the supply of acid and so lution lasts, or until the valve 9 is closed by hand. This will protect the sprinkler-heads 23 as well as extinguish fire in the lower level of the tank.

Simultaneously with the discharge of foam from the said swinging-pipe the fireextinguishing liquid from the vertical supply-pipe 24: will be forced into all of the sprinkler-pipes and to and through all of the said sprinkler-heads 23, so that the underside of the roof 2 will be thoroughly sprayed throughout its under surface, with the result which has been previously de scribed herein.

I claim:

1.111 a fire-apparatus, the combination with a structure to be protected from fire, of separate sources of supply for acid and a foam-forming alkaline solution exterior of said structure; means for conveying said acid and solution separately into said structure under pressure; a swinging acid and foam-mixing device connected to said acid. and solution conveying means in said structure; and means for discharging the foam formed in said swinging mixing-device.

2. In a fire-apparatus the combination with a structure to be protected from fire, of an acid-container located on the exterior of said structure; means for forcing acid. from said container; a pipe carrying a foam-- forming alkaline solution under pressure from a source of supply exterior of said structure to the interior thereof; a swinging mixing-device in said structure; pipes connecting said mixing-device to said acid-container and to said foam-carrying pipe with-- in said structure; and means for discharging the foam from said mixing-device directly onto the fire.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

OSCAR J. HOLMES.

Witnesses:

FRANCES HOOVER ROSENBAUM, JOHN C. HIGDON. 

